No Onero location in area - Alternatives?
I'm interested in the Onero program but from a search on their location map, there aren't any trained practitioners in my area. I'm also struggling to find any specialists focused on osteoporosis. I'm at a loss of what to do.
What other specialists, programs, etc. should I look for?
I appreciate any advice or guidance!!
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What is your current level of physical fitness? If you are new to exercising or participate in minimal exercise, it's best to start slowly. Margaret Martin's book, "Exercise for Better Bones", is a great resource as she includes exercises based on your current fitness level and severity of your osteoporosis.
I don't have an Onero facility near me but have incorporated the exercises into my fitness routine for a couple of years now. I started lifting weights in 2012 under the guidance of a personal trainer so it wasn't difficult to add the Onero exercises. If you decide to begin to strength train, start low and slow and find a personal trainer to help you. It can take a long time for your tendons and ligaments to adjust to the extra load and many people proceed too quickly and end up with an injury.
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1 ReactionIf you feel safe/confident to start on your own, Dr. Lisa Moore demonstrates the four exercises in this video. I found it very helpful, though I also have worked with a physical therapist on my form.
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3 ReactionsAre there Silver Sneakers or similar exercise groups focused on post-menopause aged people in your area?
I’ve been attending an exercise class for seniors with a teacher who is mindful of osteoporosis risks and focused on building our strength and improving our balance. I can tell this has helped me.
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2 Reactions@dshesgreen, with all due respect, I would not advise anyone to attempt Onero exercises on their own by watching a video. I have a lot of respect for Lisa Moore (and I do some of her exercises), but anyone who wants to accomplish Onero's bone formation objective needs to be evaluated before starting, and needs to move toward achieveing the goal of lifting 85% of your 1 rep max with proper form (to avoid fractures). Ensuring proper form requires someone who is trained watching your performance. Deciding when to increase weights and by how much requires Onero certification. While strength training can be helpful, ONERO is not just strength training. It is a specific, high‑impact, high‑load, precisely‑progressed protocol designed to generate osteogenic (bone‑building) stimulus in postmenopausal women.
Most gym‑based strength training — even heavy lifting — does not consistently reach the loading thresholds or movement patterns that ONERO uses to trigger bone formation.
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1 ReactionThere are physical therapists who specialize in osteoporosis. That would be a good place to start for anyone who doesn't regularly exercise. I had great results with exercise and diet changes alone for one year, before I went on Tymlos, but I have a history of weight lifting for many years, so I felt really comfortable doing it. PT will be covered by your insurance if you have OP, personal trainer will probably be out of pocket. If you haven't read the Liftmor study, you should read it. It has four specific exercises they used that showed good improvement- you could ask the PT/ trainer to work with you on those specifically. Good luck!
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2 Reactions@dshesgreen I have some personal experience with what @yds is saying. What I would have done differently is to start even more slowly on my own, and then get a personal trainer or PT for several weeks before I got to full LIFTMOR movement ranges at full LIFTMOR 80-85% of 1RM. The subtilties in deadlifts are intense.
With no Onero near me, and Personal Trainers very expensive I started various exercises patterned after LIFTMOR type about a year ago on my own. I will credit myself some for working up slowly and my spine T-score is only -0.9. I watched hours of videos about form especially for the deadlift. By 8 months in I was doing back squats with 80lbs and slightly-shallow deadlifts with 100lbs.
When I started to go deeper on the 100 lb deadlift, bending over more, I did a somewhat minor strain in my back that may have been a minor costovertebral sprain. There was no pain at the time, and I finished my gym session that day. Only later was I sore. LESSON: go really slowly with every change in what you are doing and back off at even a whiff of something not being perfect, even if not painful.
The strain drastically reduced my back exercises so I went to my doctor and got a referral for Physical Therapy with a reasonable co-pay to me to heal faster. Every PT session I bugged the therapist to also help me with form on deadlifts and that helped some. But my 2 therapists were more about fixing issues and not as great about advising proper form in deadlift etc. LESSON: pick your PT carefully for exercise form if you use one.
At the end of physical therapy I resumed my hunt for a Physical Trainer searching further afield, and being willing to pay more. I finally found a lower-cost gym that offered 5 sessions for $300. And I could do those 5 sessions scheduled individually. My usual gym makes you set up a weekly schedule for about $100/session and that was not flexible enough.
The trainer was open to the LIFTMOR type protocol and helped me in key points. Most importantly is that she was able to augment how I was bracing my back for deadlifting and supervise me in that until it became rote. The rest of my form was already good she said! Still, I added in more back bracing technique based on videos that reinforced what she was teaching me. The trainer also had me work more with Sumo (wide stance) deadlifts than regular DL.
I have worked my way back to 80 lb back squats and 90 lb full-depth deadlifts. I no longer see the trainer as continuous physical trainer sessions are not in my budget. But if I feel even a hint of something odd, I back off so my training sessions are sometimes only 75 lb squats and 85 lb DL or I just stop free weight lifting for that day and use the gym machines for back extensions + leg press as substitutes.
As much as I love LIFTMOR researcher Prof. Belinda Beck I wish she had tested exercises less tricky than a deadlift.
ASIDE: Technique notes that affected me: Using videos on my own I got pretty good lifting form in most areas according to my trainer. My trainer got me to brace my back more by tightening my arms more as if to pull in both elbows towards my sides firmly as I lifted. And she was able to spot it if I was not doing that enough. Videos helped by adding arm rotation force that. The videos said to pull in your arms as if you are bending the barbell firmly around your legs. When starting on my own I had mostly been bracing based on how my back felt, not what my arms were doing, and not pulling my arms strongly enough.
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2 Reactions@kfhoz Your experience is inspiring! I started with an Onero-trained PT and am now working on my own a bit. I plan to go back to working with the Onero person but the cost is an issue. I'll just probably limit my sessions.
@kfhoz thank you — this is helpful. I’m starting PT tomorrow with the goal of fracture prevention unrelated to past injury. Your comments will help.